The House of Hades (Fan-Fiction)

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Hazel

Hazel made sure her door slammed.

How could Frank and Leo be so dense, fighting over her right in her face? How idiotic of them! She respected that they weren’t going for each other’s throats, but she didn’t exactly respect how they treated her like some… prize.

Before she could probably rip her purple sheets off her bed in fury, a quiet knock sounded at her door. It was probably Frank or Leo. Nonetheless, she ripped open the door.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” a quiet voice said softly.

Blinking, Hazel realized it was Piper. Her face was filled with sympathy. She seemed to know where Hazel was coming from.

“What are you doing here?” Hazel asked in a low voice.

“There’s something else,” Piper decided. “You and Leo have a… connection. How do you guys know each other? You’ve known each other only for a few days.”

“It’s complicated,” Hazel admitted. “You know how I’m a second-timer.”

Piper averted her eyes. “Yeah, I know."

“When I lived before,” Hazel continued, staring at the ground, “I had a best friend named Sammy Valdez. He was so… charming, may you put it. He’s Leo’s great-grandfather. So… we have a connection. Sammy died thinking my disappearance was his fault.” She nearly choked on her words.

“Both guys are crazy for you, Hazel,” Piper said, as if this was new. “It won’t be easy, but eventually you’ll have to pick one.”

Pick… just one? Hazel cringed at the word. It was one thing picking oatmeal or pancakes for breakfast, and a completely horrifying choice to pick Frank or Leo.

“How do you know about just choosing one person?” Hazel asked. Her voice was pleading yet incredulous. “You… you don’t know.”

“I do know,” Piper disagreed. “I was just in a different position. You’re the one who gets to choose. Well… I didn’t have a choice. I actually did, step down or fight for the guy.”

“What… Oh.” It dawned on Hazel that Piper had been in this sort of thing. She had been battling Reyna for Jason. Her story ended happily- she got the boy of her dreams, a blond Superman. Yet her face was drawn with sadness and secret fear. Her knife was clumsily hanging at her side, sheathed. “Piper, you looked horrified.” Hazel bit her lip. “Is everything okay?”

“It’s no use.” Piper held up her hands as if surrendering. “I took out my knife, to see if I could see anything about Percy and Annabeth. I got way more than I bargained for. I saw a girl who looked like a princess in Greece, the old Greece. Then I saw… darkness. And then I saw Percy and Annabeth, struggling. The whole cavern was eating them up, Hazel. It was scary.” Piper’s eyes were wild, as if she had seen a murder. She was really shaken up.

“A Greek princess…” Hazel thought aloud. She had never had the time to study Greek mythology, and she had luckily missed some of Annabeth’s lectures. There were a lot of Greek princess in the myths.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure she was Greek royalty.” Piper unsheathed her knife. “I’m not sure if I can get anything else from this stupid knife. It’s being stubborn.”

“Is there anything else?” Hazel asked hesitantly. “I can… help you with these things. You help me, I help you.”

“Um, I rather not drag you down into this visions,” Piper said slowly. “We’re the only girls now. We have to stick together.”